CreativeMornings

Illustration | Digital | Merchandise | Print

CreativeMornings is a breakfast lecture series for the creative community; free, monthly events that feature a short talk, Q+A and breakfast. Local chapters not only celebrate a city’s creative talent but also promote an open space to connect with like-minded people.

CreativeMornings started in New York City in 2008 and has since grown to over 180 cities all over the world.

I attended my first CreativeMornings in February 2017 when a friend was the featured speaker, and I left enamored with the organization. It was a gathering full of community, opportunity, and creative inspiration, and I'd been looking for all three.

After attending religiously for a few more months I got involved with the Nashville chapter's design team, creating graphics for social media, event signage, and monthly giveaways. One of my first projects was a CreativeMornings Nashville sticker pack (shown below, and produced by the generous people over at Sticker Mule).

A few months later, our team of designers was tasked with creating a wide variety of illustrations that all represented the spirit of CreativeMornings Nashville: the fun and whimsy, the creative community and, of course, the breakfast.

My solution was this handdrawn illustration of two pals, a mug and a doughnut, smiling happily together. These two started out as a simple postcard and a social post, but received very positive responses, and have since grown more than I ever anticipated. These "Morning Pals" have taken on the form of a photobooth prop, a large flag, and even enamel pins!

“Surprise and Delight”

Then, in September 2018, the CreativeMornings Nashville chapter got a unique and wonderful message from CreativeMornings Global HQ. We learned that our chapter had developed a reputation in the CM community for infusing "surprise and delight" into our events and messaging, and HQ asked our team to lend a hand in preparations for CreativeMornings Global Summit Camp 2018. Our reply, of course, was an eager "uhyes".

Working within a tight deadline, the wonderful Christie Vergona and I designed and wrote the Summit Camp Field Guide – a pocket-size book of activities and other silliness designed to get CM leaders from 30+ different countries (89 CM chapters) interacting and connecting with each other. (Printed by the fine folks at Scout Books).

The "Morning Pals" flag made an appearance at Summit Camp, as well.

CM Nashville team members who attended Summit Camp returned overflowing with new ideas from the featured speakers (Seth Godin, Priya Parker, Ingrid Fetell, and more) and other CM chapters around the world. One of the first of these ideas to be put into action in Nashville was the "Mug Library" sustainability effort.

Rather than providing paper or Styrofoam cups, we've collected (and continue to collect) a "library" of ceramic mugs for people to use at our events. We've also encouraged event attendees to BYOM (bring your own mug) if they'd prefer to use their own.

I stayed true to the rough, hand-drawn vector style of the "Morning Pals" to create a new series of illustrations for the Mug Library. These friendly mugs have been used on promotional and informational materials, including large event posters, social posts, and presentation slides.

"Austin has distinguished himself among the very best designers we’ve had the pleasure to work with in nearly 5 years of designing a huge variety of projects. He always comes to the table with an excellent vision for the project, but he also readily solicits and incorporates our feedback. His work is always on time, which is so important, but more importantly he’s just an open and friendly guy who really cares about producing good work. We know when a project has Austin on it, it’s gonna be good!"